PlayStation Classic
The PlayStation Classic is a dedicated video game console by Sony Interactive Entertainment that emulates games originally released on its 1994 PlayStation console. It was announced in September 2018 at the Tokyo Game Show, and released on December 3, 2018, the 24th anniversary of the release of the original. The console has been compared to competitor Nintendo's prior releases of the NES Classic Edition and Super NES Classic Edition mini consoles. Despite this, the console received mixed to negative reviews from critics, with criticism for its weak game library, console UI, use of PAL versions and high price tag; though the console's design did attract praise.
Specifications
The PlayStation Classic ships with two replica PlayStation controllers, an HDMI cable, and a USB Micro-A to standard USB-A cable. An AC adapter for the console is sold separately. The console weighs about and is about in size, approximately 80% smaller in volume than the original PlayStation and 45% smaller in width and length. It includes ports for both controllers, HDMI output, and power via USB. The controller's cords measure approximately long. It cannot use PlayStation memory cards. Internally, the console uses a MediaTek MT8167a Quad A35 system on a chip with four central processing cores clocked at @ 1.5 GHz and a Power VR GE8300 graphics processing unit. It includes 16 GB of eMMC flash storage and 1 GB of DDR3 memory.The Classic uses the ReARMed branch of the free and open source emulator PCSX to play its games.
Games
The PlayStation Classic comes preloaded with 20 games, running off the open source emulator, PCSX ReARMed. Five games were revealed when the console was announced, and the full roster was revealed a month later. Some games vary between regions. The device does not interface with the PlayStation Network, and games will not be added post-launch. Each game can be suspended in a save state by pressing the console's "reset" button. Nine games use the PAL release regardless of the console's release platform, which means they run at a slower framerate of 50 Hz as opposed to the NTSC standard of 60 Hz, and may respond slower than players from NTSC regions would expect.The North American version of the dedicated console received a Mature rating from the ESRB due to the inclusion of Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid and Resident Evil: Director's Cut. Likewise, the European version received an 18 rating from the PEGI group; European package also displays German USK 16 and Australian MA 15+ ratings as it's also sold in Australia. The system box recommends the system for ages 6 and up, and some individual titles such as Rayman have suitable ratings for that age group, but the console provides access to all 20 games, with no parental controls or settings to restrict available games.
| Games | NA/PAL/Korea/Southeast Asia | Japan/Taiwan/Hong Kong |
| Arc the Lad | ||
| Arc the Lad II | ||
| Armored Core | ||
| Battle Arena Toshinden | ||
| Cool Boarders 2 | ||
| Destruction Derby | ||
| Final Fantasy VII | ||
| G-Darius | ||
| Gradius Gaiden | ||
| Grand Theft Auto | ||
| ' | ||
| Jumping Flash! | ||
| Metal Gear Solid | ||
| Mr. Driller | ||
| ' | ||
| Parasite Eve | ||
| ' | ||
| Rayman | ||
| Resident Evil: Director's Cut | ||
| ' | ||
| SaGa Frontier | ||
| Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo | ||
| Syphon Filter | ||
| Tekken 3 | ||
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | ||
| Twisted Metal | ||
| Wild Arms | ||
| Devil Dice|XI |
Release
Critical reception
The PlayStation Classic received generally mixed reviews overall, with criticism being directed at the game line up, the use of PAL versions for certain titles, the use of the original controller, the lack of an AC adapter, and the $100 price tag. Tristan Ogilive of IGN criticised the console's lack of popular titles such as Tomb Raider and Crash Bandicoot, the basic user-interface and pointing out that "almost half of the games included in the PlayStation Classic's library are the PAL versions" which caused consistency problems in NTSC regions. Sam Loveridge of GamesRadar+ praised the look of the console, but criticized the selection of games, the weak presentation of the games due to the black bars on the side of the screen, and the short length of the controller cables.John Linneman of Eurogamer's Digital Foundry also gave it a similarly mixed review, noting the console's subpar emulation, poor image quality, lack of enhancements and use of PAL game releases on North American units, though he did praise the user interface. Chris Carter of Destructoid shares a similar opinion, citing that the emulation on the classic console is at times, "worse than the original", but praised the instant-state recovery and the size of the internal storage. Joe Juba of Game Informer lamented on the lack of analog sticks on the controller, along with the lacking selection of titles and a barebones menu, which makes the system a good fit only for an "extremely specific audience".
In response to the console's perceived weak game selection, many users have modded the console so any amount of game ROM's can be added to the console, essentially turning the console into a dedicated emulator, similar to software such as Retropie.